Fill ’er up with ethanol

Biofuels are at your service downtown.

Gasoline mixed with ethanol is so common in some large cities that it’s sometimes referred to as “summer blend” — the fuel of choice during the hot months when smog is especially troublesome.

But it hasn’t even been available in Arkansas — until this fall, when Buddy Rawls, a longtime environmental and Democratic activist, opened Go Green Biofuels at 8th and Chester streets downtown.

“It seemed to me the missing link in the energy circle was a connection for the general public to gain access to these products,” Rawls said.

Go Green sells two kinds of fuels: E-10, a blend of 90 percent unleaded gasoline and 10 percent ethanol, and B-20 diesel, which includes 20 percent biodiesel. Rawls said he knows of a couple of other service stations that sell biodiesel, but none that sell the ethanol blend.

Both types of fuel can be used in standard engines, Rawls said.

“My hope, of course, is by making this product available, people will try it, become familiar with it and comfortable with it, and use it as a growing source of fuel,” he said.

The station also offers car repairs and “veggie conversions” — reconfiguring engines to run on used restaurant cooking oil.

While Rawls’ is the first service station to sell a gas/ethanol blend, biodiesel has been around a little while longer. Two biodiesel plants currently operate in Arkansas — Patriot Biofuels in Stuttgart and Eastman in Batesville. Rawls’ own interest was sparked when the Little Rock School District began using biodiesel in its buses during the last school year.

The E-10 and B-20 blends do help the environment by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions — Rawls cited a U.S. Department of Energy study that calculated that use of E-10 reduced emissions by 7.8 million tons in 2005, or the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road.

But Rawls said it’s just as important that biofuels mean less dependence on foreign oil. Ethanol is made from corn, and the biocomponent in biodiesel can be made from animal fat, vegetable oil or even used restaurant grease. Making ethanol does require the use of petroleum products, but there is a net increase in energy potential.

“The fact that 10 percent of one product and 20 percent of the other is a product that we control domestically is biofuels’ most valuable asset,” Rawls said. “The world petroleum market is pretty volatile. There’s greater stability in supply and pricing, to some extent, in biofuels.”

Speaking of price, Rawls’ price for E-10 is comparable to what other downtown gas stations charge for gasoline. Biodiesel’s cost also tends to be stable, so the price of gasoline on any given day determines whether it’s a good buy or not.

As for fuel efficiency, there is a minimal loss of miles per gallon — about 1.5 percent — for E-10 over pure gasoline. Go up to a higher-percentage blend, though — such as E-85, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline — and the fuel-efficiency loss is significant, Rawls said.

Ethanol has its detractors too. Some argue that it amounts to nothing more than a subsidy for corn farmers, because so much petroleum is needed to produce the ethanol.

Rawls has degrees in economics and business from Hendrix, and master’s degree in counseling from Arkansas State University. His primary career has been in the mental health field, with a four-year hiatus when he worked for then-Gov. Ann Richards in Texas. He now works as a psychological examiner in addition to running GoGreen.

“I’ve always been very interested in environmental issues, and concerned about matters of stewardship,” he said. “I’ve been looking for ways in which I could make some kind of contribution.”

Rawls said he knows many people in Central Arkansas won’t be interested in what he’s selling.

“I’m playing to a particular audience,” he said. “Not everybody will have the interest or concern. But I hope there’s a large enough group of people committed to the values biofuels represent to make this operation viable.”

Also, drifting away from trump, Hudson's downfall at ASU and more.

Most Shared

Next week a series of meetings on the use of technology to tackle global problems will be held in Little Rock by Club de Madrid — a coalition of more than 100 former democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world — and the P80 Group, a coalition of large public pension and sovereign wealth funds founded by Prince Charles to combat climate change. The conference will discuss deploying existing technologies to increase access to food, water, energy, clean environment, and medical care.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was on "Capitol View" on KARK, Channel 4, this morning, and among other things that will likely inspire you to yell at your computer screen, he said he expects someone in the legislature to file a bill to do ... something about changing the name of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

So fed up was young Edgar Welch of Salisbury, N.C., that Hillary Clinton was getting away with running a child-sex ring that he grabbed a couple of guns last Sunday, drove 360 miles to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., where Clinton was supposed to be holding the kids as sex slaves, and fired his AR-15 into the floor to clear the joint of pizza cravers and conduct his own investigation of the pedophilia syndicate of the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.